The chapter explores the speaker's experiences with the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in school in India, highlighting lessons on tradition and kindness. It discusses Christianity's values of humility over power, contrasts it with Roman ideals, and considers the speaker's anti-clerical stance influenced by radical Protestant and Sunni beliefs. The conversation also touches on the linguistic variations between Hindi and Urdu, the impact of partition on Delhi and Lahore's cultural diversity, and the cosmopolitan nature of Mumbai and the lack of radicalization among Indian Muslims.
Those who know Fareed Zakaria through his weekly column or CNN show may be surprised to learn he considers books the important way he can put new ideas in the world. But Fareed's original aspiration was to be an academic, and it was a chance lunch with Walter Isaacson that convinced him to apply for a job as editor of Foreign Affairs instead of accepting an assistant professorship at Harvard. His latest book, Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present is a testament to his enduring passion for ideas and his belief in the importance of classical liberalism in an age of increasing populism and authoritarianism.
Tyler sat down with Fareed to discuss what he learned from Khushwant Singh as a boy, what made his father lean towards socialism, why the Bengali intelligentsia is so left-wing, what's stuck with him from his time at an Anglican school, what's so special about visiting Amritsar, why he misses a more syncretic India, how his time at the Yale Political Union dissuaded him from politics, what he learned from Walter Isaacson and Sam Huntington, what put him off academia, how well some of his earlier writing as held up, why he's become focused on classical liberal values, whether he had reservations about becoming a TV journalist, how he's maintained a rich personal life, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded March 8th, 2024.
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Photo Credit: Jeremy P. Freeman, CNN